For collectors in search of warm friends, these vibrant, long-wearing covers are a dream come true.

Stacks of Beacons

Stacks of Beacons

Today, a century after the Beacon Manufacturing Company wove its first fabric on Jacquard looms, nostalgic collectors treasure these blankets' retro aura. But in its prime as America's largest cotton-blanket maker, from 1920 through the '40s, Beacon pitched its product as a modern marvel: a fluffier, less expensive, moth-proof alternative to wool that was easier to clean and just as warm.

What is a beacon blanket?

What is a beacon blanket?

Based in New Bedford, Mass., and, later, in Swannanoa, N.C., the Beacon Company sold so many blankets (21 million a year in the late 1930s) that "Beacon" became a generic for cotton camp blanket--though some Beacon fabric blended cotton with wool, and rival brands made similar goods. Few surviving blankets bear a trademark: Much of Beacon's output went to retailers, such as J.C. Penney, who applied private labels, and most blankets marketed as Beacons had paper labels that vanished in the wash. Collectors pay from $400 to more than $1,000 for a pristine blanket in a notable design with label intact.